


Something Better

by WildwingSuz



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 12:59:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3897223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildwingSuz/pseuds/WildwingSuz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you hurt those you love the most for all the wrong reasons—but that doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Better

**Author's Note:**

> Another try at short smut that ended up being far longer than I’d planned and, unintentionally, quite serious. But don’t worry--I won’t quit trying.
> 
> Spoilers: very mild for The Field Where I Died, Triangle, Detour, and How the Ghosts Stole Christmas. A/U sometime in Season 7, I guess.
> 
> Thanks to Alia for a quick read and excellent beta—I’m glad this one cheered your lousy weekend.  
> And as always to my outstanding editor Cory, who can tear through a love scene like no one else.

Something Better  
By Suzanne L. Feld  
Rated NC-17

 

I couldn’t believe I had fucking done that. Fucking indeed—I had finally slept with my partner.

As I drove home I was torn between anger at myself and relief that it had finally happened; after nearly eight years of longing and several near misses, we’d finally crossed the line. It hadn’t happened the way I’d always envisioned and hoped, with us simply unable to take the sexual tension anymore and falling passionately into bed. No, it had happened in anger and frustration and hurt in the midst of a terrible fight…but I didn’t regret one moment of it no matter how it had begun. However, what had me steaming with rage even now was that he didn’t feel the same way about it, about us, as I did.

It had been a rather stupid fight, I had to admit, even if my blood still boiled just thinking of his stubborn pigheadedness. I was so sick and tired of Mulder believing in just about everything he heard without any type of filter to strain out the stupid shit that I had finally blown up when he was jabbering on and on about past life regression. A so-called hypnotherapist had once told us that in past lives we had been, and would always be, just friends and never lovers—and I was angry enough at that point in the argument to prove him wrong. When I did so by kissing him, our fury turned to passion before, I think, either of us really knew what was happening. 

It was the afterward that ruined it all.

“What’s the problem, Mulder? We’re adults; this is no one’s business but ours.”

“It’s not going to stay that way, Scully. Everyone will find out and we’ll be a joke.”

“We’re already the laughingstock of the Bureau, Mulder. If someone does find out that we’re sleeping together, what difference will it make?”

He had tried several different arguments with me afterward that I didn’t buy. It wasn’t until the last one that I had realized he was trying to get out of having a romantic relationship with me.

“This is going to really hurt our solve rate, Scully, if we’re—”

“You’re worried about our solve rate, for crying out loud? Couldn’t you think of something else when we’re lying naked in bed together?!”

“What else should I be thinking of?”

I had nearly hit him at that point; instead I had jumped out of his bed so hurt and angry that I hadn’t quite known what to do with myself. When I’d come out of his bathroom after getting dressed, he had been sitting on the couch with head in hands; seeing him like that was akin to being slapped. I hadn’t said another word, I’d just walked out and here I was. He hadn’t tried to stop me or follow me… the bastard.

Perhaps if the sex hadn’t been so heart-breakingly magnificent I wouldn’t feel like this, I thought as I slowed for a red light just a few blocks from my apartment. I had always suspected that it would be good between us in bed, and oh, was I right! It was so extraordinary that, despite everything that had happened afterward, I was still in awe of it. However, it apparently had not been quite as good for him if he could just blow me off with concerns that a sexual relationship between us would lower our solve rate—of all the lame excuses! I let out a half-sob, half-snort and then covered my mouth with the back of my hand; I was not going to cry over this, or him. I’d done enough crying in my time as his partner.

By the time I reached my apartment I had regained my equilibrium. It wasn’t like I’d never had a one-night-stand before, though the last time had been a good fifteen years ago in med school. Afterward I’d vowed to never do it again as I’d felt really guilty about it. I had still kept my vow, I reminded myself as I walked into my apartment. It had been a one-night-stand for him, not me.

However, I could not forget how magnificent our lovemaking had been; why did it have to be so damn good?! Had it been lousy to average, I could have lived with the afterward. But it hadn’t been. Shit, it had been the most intense, physically satisfying, and amazing sex I’d ever had in my life—and I had not quite expected that. Yeah, I’d somehow known we’d be good, but not that good. I hadn’t even suspected that real-life sex could be like that; I’d thought it was only like that in movies, but now I knew better.

After taking off my light jacket, I put on the teakettle and sat down at the kitchen table. I put my head in my hands, elbows on the cool wood, and closed my eyes.

Immediately in my mind’s eye I saw Mulder up on his arms over me as he’d been earlier that evening, his long, lean, bare body bathed in a light, glossy sheen of sweat, pumping steadily in and out of me as he’d gazed down into my eyes with an almost feral, deeply passionate look on his expressive face. The unexpected intensity of our lovemaking had left me panting for breath, unable to do much other than stare up at him and gasp and moan his name. I had never in my life reached orgasm in the missionary position before, but I had this time—more than once before we were through, matter of fact. At one point he’d lowered himself down to lay full on me and had slid his hands under my ass, then stroked slowly but steadily in and out while kissing, licking, and sucking on my neck; it had about driven me crazy. At the end he’d stuffed a pillow under my bottom, gotten up on his knees, and grasped my hips before letting himself go and pounding hard into me until we both lost it; I had been well and truly fucked by the time it was over like I never had been before.

When he’d finished he had cried out “Love you, Scully,” and collapsed on top of me. I had whispered it back and held him to me, loving his weight holding me down, feeling my heart overflow with more emotion than I’d ever felt in my life, and for once not fighting it back into its walled castle. I had never felt so loved, needed, wanted, and special in my life… at least until we began to talk.

Even now, sitting in my apartment, listening to the teakettle begin to whistle, I could again experience the intense emotions he had brought up in me, emotions that I’d been fighting to keep at bay all these years. Now that they were loose, I could not wall them up inside me again—nor did I want to no matter what he did.

At this point I was far too wound up to go to bed even though it was after eleven and a work night. Instead I turned off the stove, threw on a pair of sweats, socks, and my Reeboks, and headed out for a run. There was a large wooded park a few blocks from my building that was well lit and had a jogging track where I could blow off enough steam to be able to get to sleep sometime tonight.

* * *

Making love to Scully had been the high point of my life.

Even now, over an hour after she’d left, I was hard just from thinking about our lovemaking. While getting aroused again so soon afterward wasn’t unusual for me, the feelings I couldn’t manage to suppress were.

I was so crazy head-over-heels in love with that woman it absolutely terrified me.

From the moment my cock had slid into her body, I knew I was home in every way that mattered; she was mine and I was hers. Every touch of her hands on me tingled, and I had never felt a woman respond to me like she did. We knew each other so well that the physical act of intercourse was more comforting and wonderful than nervous and fumbling like a first time usually was. We weren’t hesitant or uncertain or shy; we rarely lost eye contact unless we were kissing, and neither of us held anything back from the other.

It wasn’t just the tangible sensations, which had been considerable, but the emotions that had made it so special between us. When, right in the middle of a heated argument, she’d reached up and dragged my head down to hers and kissed me to make her point, I’d nearly pushed her away out of sheer unthinking reaction. The moment her lips touched mine we’d both jumped as if hit with a live wire; our eyes had popped open to stare into the other’s, then without hesitation we were in each other’s arms. Luckily we were in my apartment, but I suspected that even if we’d been in the office it wouldn’t have stopped what happened next.

I didn’t remember us getting undressed, though later I had found our clothes scattered across my living room and bedroom. All I really remembered was the first time I had laid full-length on her; the shock of our skin coming together, how well we fit despite the disparity in our sizes, how effortlessly her body had accepted me, how wet and tight she was yet how smoothly and easily I had slid up into her. Looking down at her, knowing that it was Scully I was making love to, had kept me right on the edge for a while, but I did manage to hang for what I thought was a respectable time—especially since she appeared to have finished at least twice. She was quiet, moaning low rather than raising her voice, but open and demonstrative nonetheless; she hesitated in touching me not at all and looked at me almost the entire time with those incredible blue eyes that showed me exactly what she felt.

Oh, God, how I wanted to do it again.

However, I couldn’t. No matter how much this hurt us now, I knew it was a lesser hurt than when I screwed her over later. I had never been good at romantic relationships, and I’d rather nip this one in the bud before it went any further and I screwed it up entirely. I had tried to let her down gently, making it clear I wanted to be with her as a friend and partner but that we couldn’t do this again no matter how incredible we were in bed. I knew I’d hurt her and regretted it, but it was better this way than in a few days or weeks when I ditched her to run off after some alien sighting she didn’t believe in and she got mad at me both as a friend and a lover.

At least this way we could salvage our friendship and working partnership; I knew we’d never forget our lovemaking, and perhaps we could even try again sometime in the future if I felt I was up to it.

All of a sudden what I was thinking hit me fully and I sat up straight on the couch. Why wasn’t I up to having more of a relationship with her? The breakups with Phoebe and Diana hadn’t been my doing; it had been entirely on their end both times. Each of them had broken it off with me. Moreover, after all we’d been through together, did I really think that Scully would leave me as easily as they had even if I screwed up?

Not only could I change, I wanted to change, I realized. For so long Scully and I had been equal partners in every way except for my far-too-frequent ditching and lying to her, but that didn’t mean it had to go on that way. It was up to me to see that it didn’t, to make us true partners in every aspect of our lives.

What the fuck had I done?!

It was like someone had poured a gallon of ice water over my head; I stood up as I suddenly and clearly saw the way I’d ended the evening. I had treated her like shit, like a one-night-stand picked up in a cheap bar and discarded the next morning with no more thought than tossing a used tissue after masturbating. What in the fuck was wrong with me?!

I was afraid of having more with her, afraid that I would screw it up, but was that reason enough not to even try? To push her away before we could even begin to find out what we could have? Scully was everything I’d ever wanted in a partner, friend, and lover, even if I hadn’t known it until just a few moments ago. I would be insane to let her go.

If I could fix this, I would.

* * *

As he drew closer I couldn’t quite believe it, but sure as hell Mulder was jogging towards me on the brightly lit path that was surrounded by darkness. My first impulse was to turn and race away, but two things held me back: I had never run from a fight with him yet, and I knew he would catch me. I’m a pretty good runner but I don’t have the advantage of those long legs.

“Scully I need to talk to you, I’m so sorry about the way I acted earlier,” he blurted in a rush as we both slowed then stopped to meet in the middle of the path.  
“How in the hell did you find me?” I asked angrily, glaring up at him with hands on hips. I had still been doing a slow warmup jog so I was barely breathing hard, whereas he was winded.

“I pulled up…outside your building just…as you went around the corner,” he panted, bending over with hands on knees to catch his breath. He was in a pair of snug grey sweats and a black t-shirt that showed his lean, muscular physique perfectly. It was a bit cool for short sleeves, but then Mulder had never let a little thing like temperature bother him. “I figured you were…coming here since it’s late and the gym is closed.”

I had forgotten we’d run in this park together in the past.

He stood up straight again and looked down at me hopefully. “So, can we talk?”

I gazed up at him raising one brow. I certainly hadn’t expected that brush-off crap right after we’d had sex, and I wasn’t so sure I trusted him or wanted to hear what he had to say now. On the other hand, he was sometimes more than a bit slow on the uptake when it came to personal problems, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t realized how badly he’d fucked up until after I’d left. I raised my chin and snapped, “And what if I don’t want to?”

“I wouldn’t blame you,” he said, gazing down at me. I couldn’t quite meet his eyes, my own skittering off to glance around the dark area past the bright path we were on. The street was just a few yards away and as I watched, a police car slowly cruised by. “I know I was an ass, Scully; I acted like that because I was scared, scared I’d unintentionally screw you over in the future and—“

I glanced around, seeing a pair of rollerbladers coming up behind him. “C’mon, let’s go over here and talk,” I interrupted, grabbing the sleeve of his t-shirt and leading him to a metal picnic table a few feet away near the edge of the woods. When we reached it, I let go of him and climbed up, sitting on the cool table with my feet resting on the bench seat. He remained standing in front of me, putting his hands in the side pockets of his sweat pants. “Okay, continue.”

“I don’t quite know how to tell you how sorry I am,” he said simply, meeting my eyes; this time I was unable to look away. It was dark here but I could see him well enough to read his expression: true regret and unhappiness. “I treated you like shit earlier this evening, Scully, and if nothing else I owe you a big apology for that. In no way did you deserve it, and it was a mean, lousy thing for me to have done.”

I raised a brow at him. “Then why did you do it?”

“Like I started to say, I was afraid I’d unintentionally screw you over sometime in the future, fuck us up beyond redemption, and I thought that breaking it off right after our first time would make sure that that never happened. I thought we could just go back to being friends and partners, I guess. Then it hit me that I was also thinking that perhaps we could have a real romantic relationship sometime in the future when I trusted myself a little more, and I realized that it was stupid of me to think that we’d be fine together later rather than in the present.”

Both of my brows were up now. “So if I understand you correctly, you’re telling me that you thought we had bad timing?”

“Something like that. At any rate, right after we…uh, finished…I was scared that I’d screw us up to the point where we couldn’t even be friends or partners if we tried to be together now. I, uh, kinda panicked. But then, later, after you left, I was thinking it over and I realized that just being afraid wasn’t enough of a reason not to at least try.“

His clearly heartfelt words were melting my icy reserve, but I wasn’t ready to give in just yet. “So now you think you can just come say you’re sorry and I’ll hop right back into bed with you?”

He reached out and took one of my hands in both of his, still gazing into my eyes. “If you never want to go to bed with me again, I’ll understand, Scully. In fact, I wouldn’t blame you. At this point I’ll be happy if you just stay in my life.”

So he had panicked and acted like an ass, but it was clear that he really did regret it. The apology and his honesty meant the world to me, and while I had no reason to trust him, I couldn’t help it. Unlike him, I was willing to take the chance on getting hurt again without having to overanalyze; being with him meant that much to me. However, there was one thing I had to know before we went any further along this path.

“Before anything else, Mulder, I have to know if you meant what you said when we finished.” I was looking directly into his eyes, watching him carefully. “If it was just the heat of the moment, tell me now—I won’t hold it against you.”

To my relief he smiled down at me. “With all my heart, Scully. That’s part of what scared me, I think, but it doesn’t now. I’ve loved you for a very long time and it was such a relief to be able to show you and say it and have you believe me this time…you do, don’t you?”

I wrapped my other hand around his, which were still holding one of mine, and tugged him towards me, murmuring, “Yes, and I really do love you, too—even if you are an idiot at times.”

This was my one big weakness and I knew it: believing him and trusting him, very often when I shouldn’t. I was aware that I was giving in to him far too fast and easily, that it was very possible he’d rationalize himself away from me afterward again. Nevertheless, I had to take that chance; I couldn’t not try, because if he stayed with me, it would be a dream comes true.

This time when we kissed it was just as breathtaking as the other times had been. I felt like I was melting into him, his touch igniting my entire body even though we weren’t in contact anywhere other than our lips and hands. He let go of my hands to cup my face even as I reached up to twine my fingers in his thick, soft hair. God, I wanted him closer, as close as he could get—inside me. Now. I was already too aroused and impatient to wait until we got back to my apartment. I tore my mouth away from his, glancing around. We were far too close to the brightly lit path, where the occasional jogger or whatnot passed by within ten feet of us.

“Scully? What’s wrong?” Mulder’s hands had moved to my shoulders, his breath on my cheek causing me to shiver.

I turned to look at him, feeling my heart jolt at the expression in those arousing hazel eyes of his only inches away from mine. “Nothing—I’m just trying to figure out where we can go around here to be alone,” I said, reaching over to cup the side of his face and gently scraping my fingernails along the light growth of beard on his jaw. Our eyes met, held, and then in his I saw the affirmative answer to my silent question. I felt his shiver beneath my other hand, which was on the back of his neck. “How well can you see in the dark, Mulder?”

* * *

She was going to forgive me, hot damn! I wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. I was more than a little shocked that she wanted to make love out here, but I certainly wasn’t going to stop her. It was a fairly large park with an extensive wooded area that surrounded the jogging track on three sides and had trails through it, though there was barely anyone out here this late. Although I hadn’t brought my gun, I wasn’t worried about our safety as this was a very well-patrolled area, and besides Scully could probably kick a mugger’s ass without breathing hard.

I was going to make sure she didn’t regret giving me a second chance in more ways than this one, that much I was certain of. People telling me to change my life seemed to have been a recurring theme during the past few years, and it was about damn time I did something about it.

* * *

Luckily I had a tiny penlight in the waist pack I always wore while jogging and, using it, I led him deeper into the wooded area surrounding the track. It was nearly pitch dark in here, especially off the trails where I was leading us. During the day this would have been unthinkable, but now, at nearly midnight, it was worth the risk. I was so aroused I could barely walk on weak knees and suspected that, if I hadn’t been wearing panties, my juices would have been dripping down my legs. My breasts felt swollen, trapped in the sports bra that kept them from moving much at all. Mulder had always aroused me, but now, knowing what making love with him felt like and that we were about to do it again, my entire body was on fire, almost desperate with wanting him.

I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but when I found a stump that had been sheared off six inches or so from the ground with a small tree just a few inches away from it, I knew I’d found our trysting spot. I let go of Mulder’s hand, turned and reached up to kiss him, then said, “Hope you don’t mind a little bare skin in the open air.” 

When I got this aroused I tended to completely let go of my inhibitions, and I was swiftly discovering that it was even truer when I was with him.

He was nearly panting. “Whatever you want, Scully, I’m happy to let you run this show,” he said. He reached for me, but I gave him what I hoped was a sultry smile and stepped back.

“Good,” I all but purred. I turned off the tiny light and replaced it in my fanny pack, then took it off and let it fall gently to the ground. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I stepped up on the stump, turned my back to him, lowered my sweatpants and panties—pushing them off one foot without taking off my shoe—and bent over with my ass in the air, wrapping my hands around the other tree. Then I looked over my shoulder at him. “What are you waiting for, Mulder?”

“Oh, God, Scully, you are amazing,” he groaned, and I watched as he lowered his sweats, also taking them off on one leg, and then stepped up behind me. As I’d thought, the stump gave me just enough height to be at the right level for him. He put one large, warm hand on the very top of my ass and, with the other, gently but thoroughly explored between my spread legs. Then I felt him moving around and, to my surprise, his warm, soft mouth on my nether lips, licking up and down over my opening and then dipping inside.

I had to bite my lip as he licked and tongued and suckled me, my eyes falling closed, and I dropped my head as my neck had gone boneless. It was all I could do not to let go and vocalize the astonishing pleasure he was giving me, but I managed to keep my awareness just enough to not do so. A cool breeze swept over my bare ass, bringing home just where we were—but I didn’t care. Still, I lifted my head and looked around, seeing nothing but the shadows of trees around us. 

“I almost can’t believe how ready for me you are, but I love it,” he breathed as his hot mouth moved away from me, cupping my vulva briefly with his warm hand, the other disappearing from my back. Then I felt the hot, blunt tip of his cock begin to enter me, and I pushed back against it, spreading my legs more, and let out a long, low moan I couldn’t help as he slowly slid up into me. His bare, hairy legs pressed against the backs of mine, incredibly warm in the cool night air.

Once he was all the way inside me he paused, then pushed up my sweatshirt and leaned over my back, cupping both of my sports-bra-clad breasts in his hands. The warmth of his body through the cotton of his t-shirt on my bare skin felt wonderful. “Let me know if I get too heavy,” he said low, kissing along my spine as he kneaded my breasts, his palms scraping the hard nipples. “This, ah, good for you?”

“Oh God yes,” was all I could utter, awash in the astonishing sensations racing through my hypersensitive body.

Then he began to move and it was all I could do not to cry out from the tingling pleasure that spread through me like wildfire; I had never been loud in bed, but being with Mulder was changing that fast. I bit my lip then turned my head and buried my mouth against my jersey-clad bicep. Using my arms held out stiffly against the tree, I pushed back against his thrusts, which were long, slow, and exquisite from just his rocking hips, his belly brushing the cheeks of my ass. Despite where we were he was taking his time, clearly savoring and enjoying our lovemaking. It drove me all but insane with wanting more, but he was in control now.

After some time he straightened up, grasping my hips, and picked up the pace, thrusting into me harder and faster using his whole body. I was so lost in the incredible pleasure pulsing through me that I could do nothing but brace myself against the tree I was holding onto and tilt my ass up by bowing my back, feeling my arousal rising swiftly towards orgasm with every powerful stroke of his thick cock, which was rubbing me in all the right ways. I had never finished this easily with anyone else, but Mulder had me so physically aroused before we began that it wasn’t long before I was close. 

I couldn’t help a gasp slipping out as I threw my head back, and I heard him mutter in staccato, “You—okay—Scully?”

“Oh, God, yeah, gonna come,” I turned my head and managed to utter, feeling myself hanging right on the edge. Then I tipped over, and as the incredible tingling pleasure engulfed me, I knew I cried out against my arm but didn’t care, lost in what Mulder did to me.

To my surprise his strokes slowed as I came down from the astonishing orgasm, then he pulled out and turned me to face him. Bending down and wrapping his strong arms around my waist, he then breathed into my ear, “You are so fucking hot, Scully, you’re making me crazy—but I need to see you when I come.”

If he hadn’t been holding me up, I’d have collapsed; my knees were like jelly. I managed to get my arms up around his neck, holding on for dear life. He kissed me, wildly passionate, then slathered sloppy, open-mouthed kisses along my jaw to my neck and down to my collarbone where my shirt stopped him. I didn’t realize we were moving until my back bumped up against something solid and his hands slid under my ass, lifting me. I automatically wrapped my legs around his waist, still holding onto his shoulders, and before I knew it, his long, hot cock was sliding back up inside my still-quivering passage.

“Oh Jesus, Mulder,” I whispered, feeling my eyes roll up in my head as he pressed me back against what I assumed was a large tree. “This is incredible.”

“Yeah Scully,” he breathed into my ear, and I could hear happiness and pleasure and delight all rolled into those two words. “Gonna fuck us both cross-eyed, lover.”

“Do it,” I managed to reply through the red haze of extreme arousal. Though I’d never had anyone talk to me like that before, nor had Mulder ever said anything even remotely along those lines our previous time in bed, it worked in the moment.

“Then hold on, beautiful.”

I almost cried out loud again from the astonishing sensations rocketing through me as he began to plunge into my body, his strong arms slamming me down onto his cock even as he thrust up into me, but I managed to clench my teeth and keep the noise in yet again. My back bounced off the tree behind me but I barely noticed it. My hard nipples rubbed against his chest doubling the sensations to the point where I was afraid I couldn’t take it, wondering somewhere in the back of my mind if I was going to pass out from sheer pleasure. Then he began to kiss and lick and suck at my neck like he had during our first time earlier, grunting and moaning softly in my ear, and that did it—over I went again, overwhelmed with the intense orgasm that pulsed and tingled through my entire body right down to my toes and fingertips. 

I came back to myself just in time to watch him finish, which nearly took me over again as he pounded into me furiously. He had thrown his head back, face contorted, teeth gritted, the corded tendons in his neck protruding, almost looking like he was in pain until he let out a low, guttural cry that was sheer unadulterated pleasure and slammed me down on him one last time, his hard, muscular body jerking and quivering against mine as I felt his thick cock twitching inside me. 

After a few moments of panting together, he slowly pulled out of me and let me slide down his body; we leaned against each other with my head resting on his chest, listening to his thundering heart. “I love you so much,” he murmured breathlessly, kissing the crown of my head before laying the side of his face on it. “You won’t regret giving me another chance, I promise.”

“I already don’t,” I breathed, hugging him closer. Sometimes going with one’s heart instead of one’s head did pay off.

His arms were around my shoulders holding me firmly to him, mine draped loosely around his waist. I could feel his essence already beginning to run down the inside of my thighs, but for once I couldn’t care less. Right now I wasn’t the cold, rational, and clinical Special Agent Dr. Dana Scully, M.D.; I was the ecstatic, wild, carefree, and sexual Mulder’s Scully.

Both of our hearts were down to a more normal pace when I finally leaned back and smiled up at him. Even though it was very dark, I could see his eyes glittering down at me above the gleam of his white teeth. “I know I should say something sweet and romantic and touching right now, but all I can think of is that my butt is cold and I’m thirsty,” he said, laughter in his voice. “You’re not going to shoot me now, are you?”

I grinned up at him, then grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him down for a long, still-passionate, breathtaking kiss. “No, I’m actually relieved that you’re still the same thoughtless, selfish jerk I’ve known and loved for the past seven years,” I joked, stepping back out of his arms. “Now let’s get dressed; I’ve got a water bottle in my pack.”

“Was a thoughtless, selfish jerk,” he clarified as we pulled up our underwear and sweats then went over to the stump where my waist pack was—I saw that we hadn’t gone far, just a few steps away. I dug out the bottle of water, replacing it after we’d both had a drink. As I snapped the pack around my waist, he said, “The stupid shit I pulled earlier today was the last thoughtless, selfish thing I do to you. No more ducking, ditching, lying, bullshitting, or not trusting or believing you. We’re going to be one for all and all for one from now on.”

I found myself in his arms yet again, sharing another of those magnificent kisses that I hoped would never stop making me feel like this. When we broke for air I gazed up into his shadowed face and said, “Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but I fell in love with you just the way you are—self-righteous and narcissistic at times, if I recall correctly. Though I have to admit, I certainly wouldn’t mind less ditching. That does get annoying.”

He laughed, hugging me to him. “Then, at least, no more ditching it is,” he said and then leaned down and kissed my forehead. Stepping back and letting go of me, he looked around. “Do you remember which way we came?”

I got my penlight out of the waist pack and flashed it around, recognizing nothing but the stump at our feet. “I’m not sure…”

“Look at it this way, Scully.” I tilted the light up near his face to see that smart-ass grin I knew all too well. “At least this time if we get lost in the woods, we have something better to do than sing.”

Finis


End file.
